Hogwarts, MiddleEarthean Style
by Serina Black
Summary: Ron's first day back and he's already day-dreaming about his pen-pal from school. Harry, still depressed over Sirius's death. Merry, looking with Frodo for his cousin Pippin, who's gone missing again. Lotr meets HP at Hogwarts for a strange year... Not ve


Author's Note: Hello, everyone. I know what you're thinking, Oh God, it's another one of those cursed Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings Crossovers, someone save us! Well, you know what? You're probably right, but I wouldn't know. Just please give this a shot, and have a tiny bit of patience with me. Please? Reviews of all kinds are welcome.

-Eve Milten

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Disclaimer: I do not own the wonderful mind of J. R. R. Tolkien, nor any of his amazingly interesting characters. I also do not own any of the characters or the settings from the Harry Potter stories, and I do not own J. K. Rowling's mind, though I would like to so I could somehow bring Sirius back to life. That was a really shallow move on her part... Oh, but the Slytherin girl belongs to me, though her house does not, and some other characters later on in the story most likely will also belong to me, but I will bring that to you're attention when they appear. So, please, enjoy!

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Hogwarts Middle-Earthean Style

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Chapter 1: Hogwart's Express

The air was full of electricity and excitement as the Hogwarts students all gathered in front or stepped inside the steaming red locomotive, getting ready for another year of school in the wizarding world. Looking around, Ron noticed that once again, almost all the people on Platform 9 ¾ were wearing muggle clothing. As he felt Harry, Hermione and Ginny come through the portal, swiftly followed by Fred, George, and their parents, Ron, now starting his sixth year, moved sideways away from the group, eyes still scanning the crowd, knowing that she was supposed to be here today, but not seeing her anywhere.

"What are you looking for, apple-of-my-eye?" asked George in a mocking voice, putting his arm around Ron's shoulder and trying to see what interest Ron could possibly have in the crowd. Ron shrugged him off, muttering a "No one George," and pulling his trunk onto the train with a bit of disappointment showing on his be-freckled face. Fred and George followed Ron onto the train whispering to one another. The three of them walked down the aisle, trying to find an empty compartment. As usual the last one was empty, so they dumped their stuff off there and walked back off the Hogwarts Express to say good-bye to there parents.

"So, it's a person you're looking for then, Ron," Fred said, grinning. "Is it a girl? Or are you going gay on us?" The twins took turns imitating Ron trying to talk to a girl. Ron tried to ignore them, "Just sod off, would you?"

"RONALD WEASLY! DON'T LET ME **_EVER_** HEAR YOU SAY THAT WORD AGAIN!" Ron grimaced, "I'm sorry mum..." He turned but behind him was Hermione, looking flushed. "...Hermione? Aw, forget that. I don't need to apologize to you." Hermione sniffed, but was then caught up in a big hug by Krum, and got preoccupied with saying good-bye to everyone. Ron and the Twins took their good-byes lightly, and pulled the more-than-willing Harry along with them to their compartment as soon as they could get away from Mr. and Mrs. Weasly. And then they were off, for yet another eventful year of Hogwarts. Most likely not, though, knowing their wonderful luck.

~*~*

Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, sat down on an over-stuffed green seat in the last compartment of the Hogwarts Express, with his two friends, Hermione Ganger and Ron Weasly. The only other ones in the compartment with them were Fred and George Weasly, who were back for their last year at Hogwarts, randomly deciding that Hogwarts just wouldn't be the same if they weren't there to spread the mischief. That and Dumbledore had written them a long and convincing letter asking them to come back for one last year. And of course they obliged...

"Harry, we'll be right back. Ron and I must go attend the prefects meeting for a little bit." Harry nodded his head, not saying anything. He knew it seemed rude but ever since Sirius died, he just couldn't bring himself out of his depression. Nothing was the same anymore, there was nothing to live for. Everything he had loved was taken away from him; Sirius, his parents, quiddich....oh yeah and Cho too. He shook his head and tried to force himself to think of other things. _Well at least I didn't lose Hermione, Ron or the rest of the Weaslys, Hedwig, Lupin..._ He thought, but that wasn't too reassuring. This summer had been hell again, though the Dursleys had given him money to go ride the Knight Bus and visit the Order of Phoenix headquarters (though they thought that he was just visiting friends). 

Harry sighed, and went through his bag looking for a book, any book, just to get his mind to stop thinking for a while. His hand hit one, and he gratefully pulled it out of his bag to look at it, turning it over to read the title. _Hogwarts, A History_ shone up at him in golden letters, and he moaned. Of all the books he could've pulled out, and it had to be this one. And yet....Hermione had always said he should read it. He moved himself over so that he was at the window seat, and sat in the corner with his feet up on seat. _Hey, this isn't so bad. Why didn't I read it before? _His inner self laughed at him, _Because this is the stuff that only a bookworm would read and you know it. _He ignored that inner self and continued to read.

He got so involved in the book that he didn't hear when Fred and George left the compartment to go find their friends, and he didn't notice Hermione and Ron come back until Hermione shrieked, "Oh, Harry, you're actually reading it! I can't believe it, I never thought that anyone else would read that besides me!" Harry saw Ron shake his head and mutter, "I wonder why." Hermione and Ron sat down, and started to play a game of Wizard's Chess, while Harry continued to read.

When the door slid open a little while later, Harry heard it, but didn't look up over his book. Fred and George had checked in a few minutes before and said that they were staying with Lee, while Ginny and Neville had popped in before to say hi. This left only one person who had not visited them, besides Luna, yet. 

"Malfoy, get outta here. I'm not in the mood to deal with your pure blood crap right now."

"Uh, Harry, that's uh not..."

"Keep quiet, Hermione, I'm not in the mood to deal with Malfoy and ugly trolls right now."

"Harry, Hermione's right, that's not..."

Harry closed his book with a loud snap, and looked angrily at Ron and Hermione. "What are you talking about, of course that's Malfoy, who else would come in here right now?" He noticed then that Ron and Hermione were looking at something behind him. He slowly turned around and couldn't help but jump back a little bit. Standing behind him at the door was a red-headed girl he knew was friends with Cho but was from Slytherin, (but her name was eluding him at the moment), and a person he had never seen before, a short little man who's curly reddish-brown hair came just above the Slytherins's waist.

"I don't know of anyone by the name Malfoy, but I'll leave if you really don't want me here..." said the short guy, with a heavy Irish accent. The Slytherin was glaring daggers at Harry, who was standing there speechless. She sniffed and said in an icy tone, "Cho told me that you were rude at times, but I really didn't believe her. I thought she was just mad that you turned her down in such a harsh way." 

Harry recovered his voice, "HEY! That's not fair! She was the one..." The red haired Slytherin cut him off, "I'm not here to discuss Cho right now. This is Merry Brandybuck, a new student at Hogwarts this year. He's going to be in the same grade as us, so I thought that I might as well introduce him while we're looking for his cousin. Merry, the girl is Hermione Ganger, the smartest one in our class, the black haired kid is Harry Potter, and the red-head is Ron Weasly." 

Merry had looked over the three of them, nodding politely to each of them, smiling at Hermione, giving Harry no more than a second glance, which was a change for once, but his eyes twinkled with mischief when he looked at Ron. "Weasly? As in related to Fred and George Weasly, the twins that I met earlier?" Ron nodded his head and Merry grinned. "I hope to become close friends with the two of them, and you three of course. But I really must look for my cousin..."

Another short figure appeared behind Merry, they had a small sort of resemblance with one another, but this newcomer had dark brown curly hair. "Hey, Merry, find Pippin yet?" Merry nodded his head sadly, "No, Frodo I haven't..." The new one, _Frodo remember his name is Frodo, _Harry thought, nodded his head. 

It was then something above Harry's head moved. Harry jumped as a person, the same size as the other two stretched and yawned. "Ho, Merry, is that you?" "Pippin? What the bloody hell are you doing up there?" "Why, sleeping Merry. Say, do you have any food? I'm starving..."

Merry, Frodo and the Slytherin all sighed, as Pippin jumped down from the rack above Harry from where he had been sleeping. He made a little bow to Hermione, Harry and Ron, "Hullo, nice ta meet you. So Merry, about that food..." The Slytherin girl dug into her pockets, pulled out a chocolate frog and threw it to the one that Harry now knew as Pippin, while Merry sighed exasperated, "Bloody hell, Pippin, may the Light burn you, and when I learn to curse I will make sure that you will never ask for food again. How did you manage to get up there?"

Pippin opened the chocolate frog, and looked at the card while waiting for the charm on the frog to wear off. "Hey, this must be a new one. It's a Sirius Black card. He doesn't look half bad either..." Harry pushed Hermione out of the way as he scrambled to his feet to look over Pippin's shoulder (which wasn't hard). Sure enough, in Pippin's miniature hand was a picture of Sirius, who waved happily up at Harry. "There wouldn't be a chance that you would give that card to me, would there, Pippin?" Pippin looked at the card then up at Harry, "I'll think about it lad. I've been looking for a card of one of the Marauders for a while now. They have to be the best group that was ever made in Hogwarts..."

Merry walked over and hit Pippin upside the head. "Pip, how did you get up there?" Pippin rubbed his head for a few seconds, then munched on his frog silently, putting on a good imitation of thinking. "Why, I came in when this dark-haired guy was reading that book. He ignored me when I asked him if he had seen you, so I just climbed up there to wait, but fell asleep." That statement earned Harry a glare from Hermione, but he just ignored it. Thankfully, Ron changed the subject.

"So, are you three going to be sorted today? At the Sorting with the first years I mean." The red-haired Slytherin shook her head. As she started to explain, he suddenly remembered her name what her name was, Trey. How could he forget that name, since he always found it so strange that she had a guy's name. And the fact that she was the keeper on the Slytherin's team...

Trey smiled sweetly at Ron, "They've already been sorted, along with the other six new students this year. Frodo's in Gryffindor, along with four other students, while Merry and Pippin are in Slytherin with me, as is one other new student." Hermione sniffed, "And the other three students?" Trey smirked at Hermione, "I don't know, we're going have to wait for the feast tonight to find out. Which reminds me, we're almost at Hogwarts, so you guys should probably change into your robes." With a swirl of her robes that would put Snape to shame, she left the compartment, and walked down the hall, Merry and Pippin close behind. 

Frodo stood in the doorway, though, watching Hermione, Ron and Hermione. "Don't hate Trey, she just has an attitude sometimes. Please forgive abruptness..." Hermione smiled weakly at Frodo. "We don't hate her. She's been my friend for a while, but she's grown distant since Harry and Cho had their fight. I've always wondered why she's in Slytherin, though. All of her friends are outside of the Slytherin house, mostly in Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. Actually if I remember correctly, she was sorted into Ravenclaw our first night..." Frodo shook his head, "I don't know. I'm glad I got to meet you all though, since I'll be in the same house as you guys." He looked down at his feet, seeming to feel awkward, "Well....I'll be going then. Oh and don't be surprised if Merry, Pippin and I look a little...ah...different tonight. See you guys at the feast." And with that he turned and strode out of the compartment.

"Strange little people, aren't they?" commented Ron as he pulled his robe over his head. "That's not funny, Ron," said Hermione with a disapproving stare. "What, don't tell me that you didn't notice that they were only like three feet tall. And those accents, sounds like they're from the back woods of Ireland, don't you agree, Harry?" 

Harry looked up when he had heard his name, "What? Oh, uh....Yes, yes of course Ron. Back woods of Ireland..." Harry turned away from the curious look from Ron and the concerned look from Hermione. He thought he had read something once, a while ago, a novel about a bunch of short people called hobbits or halflings with those names who were trying to destroy some ring with the one power or some crap like that, but that couldn't be right. He was just imagining things. Just as he was probably imagining the golden ring he had seen dangling from around Frodo's neck on a silver chain that had appeared over Frodo's shirt as he turned to leave. It was just his depression making him imagine things, right?

~*~*

Ron grabbed his trunk off of the shelf and finished putting his muggle clothing back into it. He ignored Pig as he flew around his cage hooting excitedly, and shut his trunk door as the Hogwarts Express came to a halt at the Hogsmeade Station. As the students filed out, Ron couldn't push down the feeling of excitement that he had been feeling since he had seen her on the train. _She's here, she's really here! I shouldn't have doubted her. Her owl promised she would appear. And Trey's statement had reinforced that..._ Ron couldn't keep his thoughts on one idea, and his heart beat hard in his chest as he stepped into the carriage led by invisible horses, followed closely by Hermione and Harry. 

_Maybe I'll see her again at the feast!!!_ As Ron thought that, his hand went to his pocket where the letter written by her was hidden. _Of course I'll see her, what am I thinking? _

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Author's Note: Okay, I know, it doesn't have a plot and it's probably no different than the rest of the Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings crossovers out there, but I'm trying, so please bear with me! Reviews of all kinds, shapes and forms are welcome. 

-Eve Milten


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